We were sad to be leaving our lovely Xlendi Bay. The time on Gozo was really nice. Gozo is a lot different from the island of Malta. It is much less over-developed, more rural and agricultural, and I think the pace there is slower. As I read the Times of Malta, some in Gozo are fighting the developers and don’t want Gozo spoiled like so much of Malta has been. I wish them luck because I would love to see Gozo stay the lovely island that it is.
We had arranged for a taxi to take us to the ferry terminal. Our driver from the other day came to pick us up and he was even early. He’s a nice young man who emigrated from Ghana and has been in Gozo two years. We enjoyed our chat with him.
We weren’t in any hurry to get to Malta because our Airbnb check-in wasn’t until 3:00 p.m. We were going to an apartment that we’ve stayed in 3 previous times, for 3 months in 2016 and twice in 2018. We were looking forward to being there, but we waited at the ferry terminal for a while. Christine went for a walk to take some photos on Mgarr, the harbor town.
That fortress-looking building above is Fort Chambray. The Knights of Malta built the fort in the mid-18th century. They were looking to replace the Cittadella in Victoria because it had become too small to hold the growing population. The fort never really materialized as what the Knights envisioned. It played some part in the French take over of Gozo and Malta, but was most used by the British as a military hospital. Currently, it is being renovated for luxury accommodations.
We had a 25-minute ferry ride across the channel and then disembarked at the terminal in Cirkewwa. I thought it might be fun to take the bus to Sliema, which takes about an hour. That way we’d use up some time and also ride down memory lane and see many places that we visited and walked to or from during our previous visits to Malta. And it was fun seeing so many familiar sights. The horror, though, is the over-development. There are high-rise condos everywhere there might be a view of the sea. Melliha was especially shocking to see with construction sites and tall cranes everywhere. And then into St. Julian’s, near Sliema, the high rise construction was so overwhelming. It used to be that the 20-storey tall Portomasso Tower was the tallest building in Malta. Not any more. There is a weird-looking building very near Portomasso Tower that is taller and another being constructed nearby. These new buildings really dominate the skyline.
We arrived at our bus stop right across the street from our Airbnb. It was a little tricky with the luggage to stay upright while the bus was stopping and then navigating out the bus door, but we made it in good shape. And, we saved about 25 Euros in cab fare since the bus fare is only 1,50 Euros each. With our Tallinja cards working just fine, we can use Malta Public Transport to get anywhere around Malta.
It was still too early to check in, so we went to one of our favorite restaurant’s for lunch, Peppi’s. We have enjoyed many meals there and it is a lovely spot with great bay views across the street. After pizza and a salad, it was time to go to the Airbnb.
We had a weird check in process. In the past, the host (who is just a property manager) would meet us at the apartment, show us around and also leave some bread, fruit and water. This time, we had to fish the set out keys out of a mailbox by pulling them through a slot by a piece of fishing line tied to the mailbox and to the keys. I thought that was very bizarre. But it worked and we went up on the 5th floor to the apartment. Although we were excited to be back to a place we have liked, we were very disappointed in the place. It is now rather shabby and things were just not the same. For one thing, every empty space in the bedroom was stuffed with stuff. The wardrobe, where one might imagine being able to hang clothes and use the shelves, was totally full of stuff so there was no place to put our stuff. I spent some time unloading things out of the wardrobe and throwing them on top of it to make some room. The other thing that was annoying is that a couple of lamps in the living room have cords that don’t reach the electrical outlet so we had to move the lamps around to get some light. And we were disappointed not to have a table on the balcony, like we had gotten in the past. That table was long gone. We did sit out on the balcony a bit, but the noise on Tower Road below got to us. We’re hoping that traffic will settle down some after the weekend. Christine, I think, was especially bummed out about the apartment, but things will be better once we continue to make the place ours for the week.
We decided we need to get out and walk a bit so we walked along “our rocks” around Exile point and along the seafront. We sat for a while watching kids play in a natural pool. All that was like coming home and it was nice.
We then headed back to the little market up the street from us to pick up some essentials. However, Christine wanted some particular kind of crackers that she has for lunch. There was a store, called Meats and Eats, where we used to get them, so off we went to see if that place was still in business. We didn’t do very well navigating all the narrow Sliema Streets that tend to run every which way, and I think we turned the wrong way and went way far away from where we wanted to go. We asked a man how to get to Dingli Street, and he said “no worries, follow this street straight down and you’ll run into Dingli Street.” After about a 15 minute walk we were giving up hope that his directions were accurate, but finally, Dingli Street appeared. We still didn’t know if the shop we wanted was there, but eventually we found it. We stocked up on the things Christine wanted and returned to the Airbnb via a route we were sure we knew.
I don’t mind too much walking up and down the narrow Sliema streets. I love seeing the old architecture, which is very much present away from the seafront. Many of the houses are named, many have great doorknockers, and a lot have Maltese balconies, so I have to be very careful not to step into the street and get run over while my head swivels around looking at things.
Once back in the apartment, we had pizza leftover from lunch, and called it an early night. I’m sure things will seem better tomorrow. We’ve been so lucky to have had great places to stay all during this trip. We’ll do whatever to make this final place a good experience.
Here’s what we see from our balcony.
Sorry the apt. wasn’t up to spec. I am disappointed along with you.